7-Step Method of Increasing Guitar Playing Speed

Most new guitarists tend to think that speed is all that there is to it, when it comes to good guitar-play and being a good guitarist. Nothing can be further from the truth. There are a lot of aspects which determine good guitar-playing skills and define what makes a good guitar player.

However speed remains an important aspect of playing the axe, and comes with its advantages. For starters, the ability to increase your playing speed enhances your whole style of play, and loosens you up. You become more dexterous, flexible and playing difficult chords becomes easy. Above all, you will be able to hit notes that you were previously incapable of hitting. And what a feeling that is!

But it’s not easy. You’ll have to put in some serious hard work, and most importantly, you’ll have to remember that other aspects involved in good guitar play as just as important as increasing your speed. Also, the old adage ‘practice makes perfect’ applies here!

Here are a few things (5, to be exact) that you can do in order to enhance your guitar playing speed:

1. Practice Slow

It seems that just about everyone out there is obsessed with playing fast. As soon as they hold the guitar, most people, bar a few, want to play as fast as they can. This is a very wrong approach to take. Go slow first. Work on becoming a better guitarist by working on the basics, making sure that you nail each and every one of them in the process. Work on your technique, fingering and posture so that you don’t end up becoming a sloppy guitar player. Be patient and start off slow, building up speed in the process. A metronome will be immensely useful here! Don’t play fast until you can play notes and chords correctly. It is important to walk before you run!

2. Alternate Picking

Alternate picking – one of the most common techniques to improve playing speed – involves holding the pick between your index finger and the thumb, with the pointy-end facing the strings and using alternate down-up strokes to pluck the strings in order to play the guitar. The first note would be a downstroke, the second up, the third down and so on and so forth. Instead of plucking every string in a downwards direction, you instead alternate between up and down strokes, enabling you to gain some speed.

3. Relax

Any tension or uneasiness will adversely affect your playing speed. This usually happens when you try playing very fast, which causes your fingers, wrists and arms to get more tense, reducing your playing speed in the process. The solution is to stretch, warm-up and above all, loosen up before playing and try your best to relax during playing. Avoid forcing or exerting yourself to play too quickly, as this too will cause tension. Instead play as fast as you can without really pushing it. Start off slowly, and build up speed as your progress. If you do get tense during playing, take it down a couple of notches and slow down.

4. Metronome

A metronome will be your best friend when it comes to increasing your playing speeds! It will help you with your playing speed by allowing you to practice at a certain speed and maintain tempo while playing the guitar. It will also allow you to determine and increase your playing speed during every practice session. Metronomes can be bought from a guitar store, an online store that sells guitar accessories, or you can even access one on the internet, or download it for your iPhone/iPad or other cellular device.

5. Video

From my experience, a great way of increasing your playing speed, as well as improving other aspects about your guitar-playing, is to film yourself doing it. This will allow you to be able to do an analysis on your technique and document your progress. You don’t even need expensive equipment to do so, your cellphone camera or laptop’s webcam would do just fine. The camera should be focused the guitar and your hand position. In all probability, you will end up seeing things you would’ve never noticed otherwise.

6. Practice

Be regular with your practice sessions, as increasing your speed will probably take a while – weeks or months even. Take time out in order to exclusively work on your guitar speed, by reserving a fraction of your total practice time for this.

7. Patience

As one of the greatest musicians of our era Bryan Adams once said: “Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear and discouragement.” Being patient is vital to your success, and expecting to see results overnight (or in a couple of days) is simply being unrealistic.